RENU Upcycling Furniture Project

Beautifully upcycled furniture for your home, from someone without one

RENU was our furniture upcycling project that we ran for 5 years initially in Trafford and then at The Message Enterprise Centre in Sharston. RENU worked with individuals who had maybe worked in the past but had hit a hard time and fallen into homelessness. RENU helped people to increase their skills and confidence to move back into employment or training.

Over 5 years 50 people accessed the project and 15 moved on into further training or employment.

How it worked

We started with a piece of unwanted, shabby-without-the-chic furniture, and we gave our friends the skills to upcycle it. At RENU, not only did our students have the chance to be creative, but we gave them a safe space to work, gain confidence and employability skills. This gave them genuine employment opportunities, as well as a chance to talk to someone who listen. When you’ve been sleeping on the streets of Manchester these were life changing opportunities and it was humbling to see the transformation at the end.

“I've never been told that I'm really good at something that I've never done before.”

— James Hague

Who did we help:

We helped people like:

D came to us when he was rough sleeping in Manchester, after talking to him about his interests he started to attend ReNu.

It was like a light bulb had been switched on when he came to ReNu, he lit up when he was working on the furniture and started to smile and engage with the group, he was a fast learner and developed amazing sanding skills and progressed to working on the most intricate items of furniture . He excelled at our ReNu course attending 3 days a week for 10 weeks. He always said that he considered ReNu as a work place and was motivated to attend as if it were his job. When he was focusing on the furniture he felt calm as this helped him forget his problems.

D soon began to bring other homeless friends along and became a peer mentor, encouraging and inspiring others to do well. During this time we moved Darren on from hostel accommodation into one of our tenancies through our resettlement team we also helped him with his CV and enrolled him on a course for his security badge. RENU gave him the confidence to apply for work and has helped to prepare him for the workplace. Last week we heard the amazing news that he has just secured a job offer, for a role which received over 1700 applicants. We are so proud of everything D has done and can't wait to see where he will go next.

Whats next:

We have handed the project over to Emmaus South Manchester, who will re-open RENU as a furniture upcycling social enterprise in July 2020. We are so pleased that the project will continue as part of a wider project for South Manchester and Wythenshawe in particular. You can check out www.emmaussouthmanchester.org.uk for more details.

For us at Barnabus we are deeply committed to the work at our Drop in Centre, The Beacon, on Bloom Street and we have some exciting new projects to launch throughout 2020. In our response to the changing landscape of homelessness we are focusing our work on those who have complex challenges in their lives and are often still rough sleeping in our city centre.

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Seeing how people and their communities have come together to support each other through this COVID19 pandemic has been a true source of happiness during these challenging times. Altrincham Open Studios are a great example of this, they crowdfunded so that they could use their facilities to make visors for paramedics, hospitals, GP surgeries and now also schools and charities.

As we come to the close of #VolunteerWeek we would like to say a huge thank you to all of our amazing volunteers. Every day of the year we are thankful and humbled by our volunteer’s commitment to give up their time to help those less fortunate than themselves. No task is too great for them and the impact they have on our friends is priceless and life changing. This was made even more obvious to us during this COVID19 crisis and lockdown.

If you love running set yourself the challenge to raise some funds and Run for Barnabus. Turn your love for track, pathway or cross country running into a great way to raise sponsorship and help people experiencing homelessness with every mile you run.

The Tommy’s Manchester Half is a 13.1 mile challenge that takes place every October, starting and finishing by Old Trafford, and is easily the biggest in the North West. This could be one of the only fundraising events of the year making it a really important opportunity for us to raise vital funds.

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What a week it’s been, not just for Barnabus, but for the whole of our nation. Last week was all about shock and panic, this week was all about mobilisation when we realised we were moving to lockdown due to the corona virus.

Stephen Rowley is our Head of Support; before the crisis he was supporting rough sleepers and people experiencing homelessness with one to one support at our Support Office and Drop in. During this lockdown he is now providing support on the phone to rough sleepers in hotels and tenants self isolating in our Resettlement project. He is also feeding back to the team any deliveries or practical support that may be needed.

Sadly there is still a small group of people rough sleeping in Manchester, spending their days and nights on the streets. We are now doing street outreach again to feed these people and support them into accommodation

Barnabus relies on over 90 volunteers a week to open our doors and welcome people who need a friend. We have volunteers from all over Greater Manchester, as well as Cheshire and Lancashire, all age groups and all walks of life.

If you’ve walked the streets of Manchester, you’ve almost certainly passed by a rough sleeper. In fact, you’ve probably noticed that there are more people living and sleeping out on the streets. In 2010, the official rough sleeper figure was 7. In 2018, it was 94. Unfortunately, we know that in reality, the number is much higher. Please read on to find out more about homelessness in our city.

Last week we reached a milestone. Since the start of lockdown we have prepared, cooked and delivered over fifteen thousand meals to vulnerable people and people experiencing homelessness in Manchester. We spoke to some of our staff and volunteers to hear what their thoughts are on reaching this milestone.

During this Covid 19 crisis we're working in partnership with Manchester City Council and other charities to support rough sleepers into accommodation so that they can self isolate and keep safe, while ensuring they have essential supplies and food.

Swim, cycle, skydive, climb a mountain, shave your head, organise an event - the only limit is your imagination! We’ve had people running marathons all over Europe, riding their bikes the length of the country, dressing up as Smurfs and we even had a lady in her mid 80's playing an organ for 14 hours non-stop!

It all started in 1991 with one man, some sandwiches and a flask of hot coffee. Walking the streets of Manchester, our founder Peter Green could not believe that there were people on his doorstep who had nothing. So, with a little help from his Christian faith, he set out to do something. Luckily, Peter and his wife Beryl had plenty of love – and sandwiches – to share.